At last the days are getting longer, temperatures are on the up and us gardeners can come out of hibernation and get out and get busy. However, don’t be too keen to start sowing and planting because frosts are still a distinct possibility – it's a good idea to delay things a little longer until the soil is a bit warmer and not so wet.

The first thing tackle in the garden is the soil. Over the winter months the rain will have compacted it and nutrient levels will be a little low so it is always a good idea to fork between plants to fluff things up a bit and spread some general fertilizer to give the plants a good start to the growing year. Do this gently and watch out for emerging plants and roots on existing ones. You can also check pot plants and loosen the top inch of soil and top dress with a dusting of new compost and general fertiliser.

I have been out in my garden over the past few days and I can hear lots of mowers buzzing in the back ground. Personally, I would wait a bit until things are a little dryer because mowing a damp lawn is too damaging and a total pain to clear up. Spring prep on lawns has to be timed right so only trim when things are dry and set the first cut to high. Early spring is a good time to give the lawn a light sprinkling of lawn feed, and then again in another 6 weeks time. Some gardeners suggest scarifying and aerating lawns in the spring but in my mind these jobs should have been done in the autumn. Doing so now risks damaging the new growth.